A/N: Right, well, this has been bubbling away in my thoughts for some time, and I've only just managed to summon the strength to write it, let alone put it up here for you to read, so please be kind. Before you start, you ARE meant to be confused. If you aren't; not even a little bit, then I'm a bad writer and I should just stop now. But...I don't want to, so I won't. Any Japanese used in this IS correct and I won't be translating it unless you ask; not being able to speak a language is a social block and does cause confusion, which is precisely what I've been trying to do here: IT IS A WRITING DEVICE! So please, before anyone has a go at me because they can't understand, just know that it will not change!
However, that's not to say that the whole thing will be in Japanese; it won't. It might crop up now and then in later chapters, but mostly I'll make it clear what's being said, and if I don't, then it's because you're not meant to know.
You should also know, if you haven't already guessed, that this story starts at the end (or close enough to it) and then fills out with each chapter...ah, you'll see.
Disclaimer: I does not own. Not in any ways, noes I does not. That is all I has to says on the matter.
The Shadows Climb
Prologue
They were running; running so fast and so hard that they could have been flying. Their feet lifted earth, spun leaves and kicked heavily at rotting stumps of wood and lichen-covered rock, their tread cacophonous in the supposed stillness of the forest. Everything was dark, shaded and deep, and as they darted over the sodden, mud covered ground, swerving to avoid the domineering columns that blocked their path, they would catch, just occasionally, the sinister yellow points of the eyes of creatures, unblinking and scurrying through the decaying undergrowth.
Their breath was loud. It carried more than they would have liked, and only a sidelong glance from one to the other would ease them in knowing that it was human noises they heard and not the heavy, uninvited rasp of something sporting a large set of teeth and sharp claws.
Shredded and greying cloth whipped about their haggard, lithe frames without vigour, and the gold glowing hair of one had loosened from its previous constraints and now lashed at the air behind it, tangled and drying in clumps where a red, now turning black, substance had laid claim. This one, shorter than the other, ran with strong, determined strides, his gait rhythmic and quick and his face, fine boned but worn, contorted with single-minded fury, jaw locked tight.
The other, lankier and darker, ran blindly, panic lacing his long features and concern lighting the green irises of almond shaped orbs. His hands might lash out, snagging themselves on a waiting claw-like twig and tearing the skin, though this thankfully never damaged the slim wooden rod that was clutched tightly in the palm of his right.
It was so quiet; they could hear only themselves; not even the distant sounds of the raging storm taking place at that moment just beyond the trees could be made out over the deadening silence.
Then something snapped.
Beside the tall one, the other jerked to a halt, feet tripping and limbs trembling with the rush of adrenalin, wide tawny eyes snapping darkly from one looming shadow to the next, wary of the whispering branches that swayed and tugged at the rags of his clothes.
He - the tall one - had stopped too, knowing that whatever had caused his cautious companion alarm was surely nothing to be taken lightly, and so he stood bent double, both in an attempt at catching his runaway breath and at searching the pillars of trees for something of a more predatory nature.
All kinds of things lived in this darkness.
And few were of a sort he would be willing to associate with.
A sharp breath drew his attention to the drained face of his friend, and following the fixed gaze to a space high above the forest floor; his own stare met the black silhouette of something crouched, hunched and tense. Even without the light facing it directly, the same glow that could be seen in the eyes of the scuttling rodents was found there, though the spark was too large, and the tone, where before all had been a luminescent yellow, was instead a sickly, bright violet. The moonlight, old and withering, cast a hollow white glow from behind its body and wild long hair, and with each distant twitch of what he assumed was flesh, he felt the dampened panic within him grow.
It had seen them.
But they couldn't stop now; he had to go; had to find them; make sure they were safe. He didn't have time for whatever new threat this was.
He raised his arm without thinking, the previously forgotten shaft held firmly in his palm as it was pointed directly at the hunting animal, hardly taking in the coiling of its body as it prepared to spring.
"Stupi-!"
A solid mass of muscle, bone and metal rammed into him, knocking him off balance and sending him, eyelids screwed shut, crashing past the nearest tree, dislodging chunks of putrid bark and throwing up dank, mossy soil, his body sliding to the bottom to be held between curling roots and waving ferns. Automatically, he whipped his arm back once again, fright drawing a high snarl from his lips.
"Don't."
He stopped.
The voice; he recognised it as his companion's, hissed harshly through gritted teeth, and lowering his weapon, his gaze found that of the boy's above him. The expression, where it had before been so purposeful, was now frozen with terror, the fingers of both hands, one of them bitterly cold, biting into his arms.
The gold crowned head cracked upwards again, eyes searching the higher branches for whatever they had both seen, and, on peering closer at the taught, concentrated lines of the fair-skinned face, he realised that the boy was a good deal more informed than he was.
"What is tha-?"
"Shh!"
Irritated by this, he struggled against the tight grip, trying to see past his friend's shoulders.
"Seriously, Ed, wha-?"
"Shut up, Harry!"
A loud rustle sounded from above.
Too late, he realised his mistake, and now, his own limbs stiffening with horror, his eyes slid to the blank patch of moonlight in which they had once stood, responding to the sound of a dampened, heavy thud.
The space was no longer empty.
The figure was unmoving, unblinking and terrifyingly silent. Through the curtains of greenish black hair, falling in thick, unnatural chunks, Harry could just make out a sharp, pointed face and malicious shining eyes, the violent colour of them undimmed and knife-like in the gloom of the midnight forest. But perhaps the most frightening thing of all, even above the freakish stillness and twisted, enormous glow, was the smile; fixed and unfeeling, pointed teeth glittering and lips red and drawn. It was a smile of utmost cruelty; of mad intelligence and base humour, the features stretched and bent in ways that belied its humanoid appearance, and as Harry tried fleetingly to regain control of his immobile legs, he saw the mouth widen further.
It stepped forward.
Edward's grip on his arm was tightening unbearably, the nails of his live hand driving into his sweat-slicked skin and dragging a low hiss from Harry's lips. But he wouldn't let go. Had Harry been able to turn his head, he might have noticed the desperation in the other's eyes, the agonised turn of the brows and furious set of the jaw. He might have seen the defensive way in which Edward placed himself between the beast and his fallen figure, and the way the right arm, glittering with the reflections of the cold light, was held ready before his body.
But he didn't see; didn't think to look. Instead, his heart pumping viciously with terror, he fought the urge to scrabble back through the ferns where the possibility of safety called, and watched, petrified, as the creature opened its grinning mouth.
"Konbanwa, Hagane no ochibi-san."
Harry blinked in confusion; the voice was higher than he thought it would be, and unmistakably human. Though, that wasn't to say that it carried any human warmth; quite the opposite. It was mocking and cold, harsh and nasal, and with each incomprehensible spoken word, Ed tensed further above him, growling darkly.
Seeing this, the creature took another step forward, its hard torso, only partially covered by a black, tight material, bending itself into a more casual, disdainful posture, its head tilting and a brief snort of laughter following, Harry assumed, whatever comment had just been made.
It moved to talk again, the sounds and movements indicating speech, but nothing understandable reaching his ears. It was agonising. The more the thing spoke, the more Harry felt as though it was speaking of him, and on feeling Ed shift further over him, he could only assume that he really didn't want to stay to find out what was being said.
Tearing his eyes away from the now cackling figure of the creature, he glanced down at the shaft of wood in his fist, the inconsequential colour of it merging with the putrid mud of decaying leaves and the mottled blackness of its shadows.
Obviously, the being was hostile: he had never seen Edward so shaken, even through all of the other horrors they had experienced. Ed knew what it was, and he knew what it was saying; Harry could only assume that it was something from the boy's past, and from what he had heard, he definitely didn't want that past to catch up with their present.
He had to do something.
His fingers tightened in preparation; his mind, searching for a command that would incapacitate the monster, struggling under the weight of his fear. But even before he could raise his arm, the purple eyes, previously engaged with Edward's, slid knowingly over to his own. Malevolent, shining and oddly satisfied, they dared him to move, dared him to speak, dared him to so as much as twitch towards an attack. Frozen under that deadly stare, Harry could only shake, unable to act in the face of something he understood absolutely nothing of. The creature found this amusing.
"Hah! Honto baka da ne!"
A harsh laugh burst from its lips before it smirked again at Edward, a stream of rapid sounds, all of them sharp and piercing, pouring forth. The flaxen head flinched, teeth grinding and eyes crammed shut in denial, a quiet, desperate moan rising up his throat as, for the first time, he attempted a defiant, but weak, reply.
"Urusai, Envy." The words, whatever their meaning, were choked and anguished, but the creature, unaffected by the emotion, merely sneered in incredulous disappointment, one long, high-arched eyebrow lifting to its hairline.
"'Urusai'? Yare, yare..."
Again, the words began to flow too rapidly for Harry to pick up, his confusion mounting as the conversation grew more and more heated; Ed's voice rising to a husky shout, throwing his arms out and smashing his fists against the ground.
"Yame!"
"Darashine na."
The words were spat, the humour gone. Its face, the pointed lines hard and determined, no longer smiled, but instead stared with a dark intensity that threatened violence, its fists working at its sides and shoulders hunched.
"Ima."
"Demo-"
The word was repeated, louder and more forcefully, the following sentences hissed instead of spoken. Edward was trembling, his loose, shining hair hanging over downcast eyes and his skin, drawn tight over his cheekbones, streaked with dirt and sweat. The creature finished, its ominous tone hanging in the air between them, and slowly, his frame sagging, Ed dropped his arm and made to stand.
"Wakatta."
The casual smile returned.
"Ii darou. Hayaku shiro."
Confused, Harry fought to speak, his throat dry and tongue heavy, his brain too numb to comprehend what was happening.
"W-what's going on? Ed?"
The creature hummed with laughter, its grin manic as it watched Ed rise to his feet, his body swaying with exhaustion. Edward didn't answer.
"Ed? What's happening? Why aren't you-?"
This time, the laugh screeched louder and, without waiting for an invitation, the monster stalked forward, its bare feet cracking plant, wood and stone as it came to a stop above Harry. One pale hand clamped down on Ed's shoulder in what might be seen as a gesture of benign familiarity, but its face, smiling and over-friendly, suggested it to be more a reminder than anything else.
"Doesn't matter."
Ed's head jerked slightly towards the alien sound of the creature's English, his face shadowed by his matted flop of tangled hair. Violet lamps of eyes swung back to his lowered countenance, the claw-like fingers drilling prominent dents into the fabric of his frayed shirt, beads of something bright, red and fresh pooling about the nail-bitten skin beneath.
"Remember why you came here, kokka renkinjitsushi-san."
There was a moment of thunderous silence.
The creature's hand slipped carefully from its post.
Without once glancing up, Edward began to shift, his body turning slowly round to face Harry. The light danced through a tangled net of darkness, slanting over the barely discernable movement of tensing muscle and trembling metal. Not understanding, the taller boy made to stand, his cluttered thoughts burning with the presence of unasked, pressing questions. One made its way to his lips, his voice low and hollow.
"What does he mean? What does he mean; 'why you came he-?"
"I told you. It doesn't matter."
Harry's face convulsed with repressed bewilderment and accusation, rising to his feet and leaning heavily against the rough, tearing bark of the tree. The creature retreated then, eyes on Harry; heavy footsteps thudding towards the close, ever lengthening shade. Teeth luminous and heavy locks shuddering with depraved glee, it remained, purposefully, near enough that neither could hope to ignore its presence.
What was this? Why had Edward come here? Could he really trust him? Ron and Hermione always sai-
He cut himself short. He knew Edward; his friend, no matter how slim a time he had known him for, had never once failed to protect, to support him, even through those moments in which they had abandoned him. He knew he could trust Edward. But what was this...?
The gold head had not returned from its withdrawn pose; odd, wrenching croaks emanating from his slight, seemingly shrinking frame as he raised his right arm, the steel reflections blinding in the empty forest's gloom. The glinting palm was spread, raised towards him and shaking with an unnameable effort. Harry recognised the pose well, and fought the instinct to run; it couldn't mean what he thought it did; surely this was a ruse, a means for buying time?
Harry couldn't see his face.
The air around them seemed to grow heavy, a latent pressure pushing it, almost visibly, to the stiff figure's hand, around which it seemed to congregate, building and pulsating with an intense air of threat. The rolling orb of nothing began to glow reluctantly, casting an eerie, ethereal light about the repugnant undergrowth, smothering the flame of purple that watched from aside and pulling into sharper definition the rotting leaves and earth at his feet.
Still, he couldn't see Edward's eyes.
The boy's voice choked into life.
"I'm sorry."
Harry's eyes widened. He couldn't mean-
"You-!"
"I'm sorry!"
There was a flash of green, a tortured wail, a frenzied cackle-
And nothing.
Review? Please?
I know it's veeeeeery confusing (unless that's just me), but all WILL be explained eventually...
Also, updates might be a tad slow; I take a while to write.
Please?